David talks to Jade
by ScottyBgood
Summary: Officer David Vega has something to get off his chest, so he goes to talk to Jade about it. Kinda dark, a story I wrote literally years ago. Rated T for discussion of violence and character death.


Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious or any of it's characters.

Warning, mentions dark things, like suicide and murder. You've been warned.

This story was inspired by a story I can't even remember, years ago, and I just found it while trying to figure out what many of the stories I wrote are.

No pairing.

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David Vega sat down. He didn't want to be here, but he had no choice. He had to get this off his chest. "Jade. You don't know me, but you were my daughters friend. I'm also a police officer, so I have a lot of reasons to be here. I guess I should start by saying we got the guys who killed Catarina. Miss Valentine. It was really impressive to see, once the FBI got involved. He was like a hound dog with a scent, following the clues, never giving up." David took a deep breath, wondering if it was worth the pain.

"You remember the murder, don't you?" David shuddered at the memory, telling Tori that one of her friends was dead. It had been heartbreaking, and Tori changed because of it. The loving girl who gave everyone a chance became colder, more suspicious. "The one you were accused of committing? Your lawyer was able to convince the judge that you didn't have anything to do with it, that you were drugged, and the victim of a sexual assault. The Jury believed him, but not the world. Not the investigating detective. Not even Tori believed you were innocent. I'll admit, I thought you'd somehow slipped by that time too. I forgot that no matter how good the lawyer, if we do our jobs, then the DA convicts." It took him a few moments to gather himself back.

"Tori hated you so much. I remember her wondering why they let you come back to Hollywood Arts. How everyone thought that you should be in prison, or on death row. No one could think of a single other scenario where Cat died that didn't involve you killing her." David said. "But even as the investigating detective was making your life a living hell, always watching for you to slip up, the Valentines got the FBI to send in one of their best men. He just assumed that no one was guilty until he could prove it, and went from there."

"The DNA evidence no one cared about from your rape kit, it was partially corrupted by the time we got it, and the test only gave us a hint about who might have done it. But the agent, he was able to find someone who'd seen you and Cat talking to some guys the day before the incident. He was also able to get some DNA for a preliminary test, and used that to get a warrant for their DNA. Then he brought them in and sweated them. I remember the day he did it. It took him fifteen hours to get one of them to break. Fifteen hours. If we'd only have called him in once you were found innocent, this wouldn't have happened." He had to continue.

"That was, as you know, about a week and a half ago. Well, once he had one, and disproved the guys stories, they, we, were able to find out who did what. Even got some physical evidence that proved it. The guy who raped you is going down for that, and accessory after the fact. He got the deal. Claimed he was raping you the only time his buddies weren't watching, and that was when they were killing Cat. Said they only left you alive to take the blame.. The others, their lawyer took a deal just yesterday to avoid the death penalty." David didn't think she'd feel better knowing, but he hoped. "There was an announcement today. I don't think anyone cared enough for it to get beyond a correction in the paper."

David sat up taller. It was almost over. "I was brought in for the final raid, and was involved in the arrests. But I'd heard about the interrogation earlier, back when the FBI guy was asking if you planned the murder with him. Guess even the neutral guy needed to be convinced you didn't do it. But I've known you were innocent for the last week and a half. Only, like I said, you were already dead by that point. I do beat myself up for leaving you to be found by your brother. Poor kids going to be scarred for life for that. We didn't even think about telling you or your family. I think we were still convinced that once we got them, they'd prove you were involved."

David Vega stood up, looking at the last resting place of Jade West, her grave. It had only been two days since her family had buried her, and while he hadn't atended the funeral, he knew that he was hardly the only one. Not one of her friends, not one person from the school, had bothered to show up for the funeral. "I often ask myself, just what would I do to protect my family? You see Jade, Tori still hates you. When she found out you'd killed yourself, her response was 'Good.' I know, if she were to find out that you were as much a victim as miss Valentine was, shed hate herself. So while I wouldn't kill in cold blood to save my child, I'll lie to her. I'll let her believe you were the monster who took her friend, not a tragic victim who'd lost her own best friend in the world. And I'll let her continue hating you, so she doesn't hate herself." He turned to walk away from the grave, but paused. He was crying. He knew he had to get it out of his system now, before he went home. And he had to have a story for his family, some place he was for the last half hour. It didn't matter. Inside he was crushed by the realization that his police department had failed, and in that failure had driven a seventeen year old girl to end her own life. "Sorry. I'm so sorry."

A second figure walked to the grave sight. David wasn't looking, and was startled by the appearance of his partner, Gary. The other detective addressed him. "I thought I'd find you here."

"Just needed to get something off my conscience." David said.

"I know. I was on my way here for the same reason. We fucked up big time on this one. Only, it looks like we're not out of this yet. See, he guy who was hounding Miss West, pushing for hr to make a mistake. The detective who kept promising he'd find a way to put her away, or on death row. Well it looks like he's in deep shit now, cause the department is being sued over this. Funny thing, if anything around this mistake can be called funny, is who brought the suit. Seems the Valentines feel that, had he done his job, followed the evidence, instead of haunting this girl to desperation, then maybe the people who'd killed their own child would have been caught sooner. They're saying that, the extra death, of an innocent girl, is adding hardship to their family, and disturbing their son even further. They're also trying to get the Wests to file along side them, for the wrongful death of their child. Only, the Wests, their just broken, not all there right now. I think they just want this to be over, to mourn their loss in peace." Gary said. His eyes locked on the grave, and David could feel his partner starting to break down. "You go home, I'll need a while."

David just sighed. He walked towards his car, ready to drive out of the cemetery. Every good cop involved would carry this one, like the others they screw up on, for the rest of their days. The good one's, like him, would use it to motivate them to stop cutting corners. 'Lets just hope, in time, I get my Tori back.'

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There you have it, something I found and decided to share. Review if you wanna.


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